26/05/2015 – Today was a very relaxing day. I found out about a famous Café called „Santa Cruz“ which is very close to my apartment. That’s where my day started. I followed the words of my photography-teacher at university:
The day of a photographer starts with a coffee. Always. – Luigi Caputo
I sat there for a long time, was enjoying watching the people which were crossing the main square, was writing my diary and working on some concepts which followed me for some time. It was a great feeling. I felt free and satisfied. There was nothing which could stop me thinking and spending even more time on new, great ideas for my project and my plans for the future.
On my way back to the apartment I was trying to practice shooting on street. For the last weeks I was reading the free e-book „31 Days to Overcome Your Fear of Shooting Street Photography“ by Eric Kim (a street photographer and blog writer I follow). I brought an analog range-finder camera with me and I was about to train with it the next days and see / feel the difference between slr and small, agile range finder.
Home Cooking
In the evening, the highlight of the day took place: Filipa and Gonçalo invited me for a typical Portuguese dinner. We met at Filipa’s and I could watch them preparing this delicious food for me: boiled sausages, roast potatoes, broccoli and egg over it. As stater they served cheese and Olives, yummy! Pedro brought some red wine and with a berry-chocolate-mouse-combination the evening had it’s perfect ending.
Pedro also showed me a very nice document, a summary of all LEO activities which happened during the year in Coimbra, including the total spent hours per activity and a short description of what happened and who served. He also added pictures and even longer descriptions for bigger projects. A very nice way to show to Lions and interested people how much time LEOs spend on projects during the year. Unfortunately I forgot to take some pictures of it, but I already asked Pedro if he can send me the pdf so I can show it to you.
Thank you very much my friends for that invitation – I really loved what you have prepared and it was a wonderful time with you! Sad, that this was my last da!
Conclusion
After almost three days in Coimbra I have to say: I really like it. It’s a small, but very active town with lots of opportunities and lots of hidden places to enjoy life. Everyone I met here was super friendly to me and I had the feeling to be accepted by the people and not being seen as tourist or foreigner. The LEOs I met are wonderful, they have a great solidarity and love what they are doing. They are very into serving and also spend time outside of LEO together – which is great.
I love, that LEOs support three different institutions who care about children. They meet with the kids regularly and every LEO takes responsibility about several kids. That builds long term relationships and a great flow of serving.
What do you think?
Do you also meet outside of your LEO meetings to cook together or spend some time playing cards and other games? Do you have similar projects? Do you have a summary of all your activities? Let me know about it in the discussion-below!